Pro-Kurdish HDP party supports separate dinners for female and male deputies

"I don't see an ulterior motive in this invitation and I also think this is positive discrimination for women,” veteran Kurdish politician Buldan said
Saturday, 27 May 2017 15:58

Ramadan dinner for female parliamentarians organised by the speaker of Turkey’s Grand National Assembly (TBMM), İsmail Kahraman created debates among Republican People’s Party (CHP) and People’s Democratic Party (HDP). HDP supported the dinner invitation. Both opposition parties reacted to Kahraman calling female parliamentarians “mistress” instead of the woman. 

TBMM speaker İsmail Kahraman will host a Ramadan dinner on June 14. According to the program sent to deputies, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and Army Chief Commander Hulusi Akar will also participate the dinner. Kahraman will give another dinner for only female deputies on June 7, before this Ramadan dinner.

CHP deputies reacted to separate dinners (haremlik-selamlık) that reminds the Islamic Ottoman era during which the imperial palaces were divided into portions as the household of males (‘selamlık’) and the household of females (‘harem’) and they also criticized the use of “mistress” instead of woman in the dinner invitation for female deputies. CHP Tekirdağ Deputy Candan Yüceer said “TBMM is not a haremlik-selamlık place, it is the assembly of secular Turkish Republic which should be working to achieve gender equality with its male and female deputies. I condemn this behaviour.”

Dinner invitation created a debate in the plenary session of TBMM. CHP group deputy Özgür Özel evaluated Kahraman’s separate invitation for women as “It implicitly tells women that there is a separate dinner for them and they shouldn’t attend men’s Ramadan dinner” and added:

“As CHP, we don’t want to guess their intention but nobody is naïve. Saying that “I’m hosting a Ramadan dinner, these and these people are coming but I will have another dinner for women” means that female deputies shouldn’t attend the second dinner. I invite all female deputies of the Parliament to resist Kahraman’s separate invitation and to put him in his place. 

Ömer Fethi Gürer, from CHP, also supported Özer’s criticisms saying that “How come TBMM’s speaker attends women’s dinner, isn’t he male?”

Upon this, HDP deputy speaker Pervin Buldan said: “TBMM speaker is giving two separate Ramadan dinners, the first one is only for women and the second one is open to everyone, there is no male-female distinction in the second one.”

Pervin Buldan is an important political figure for Kurdish politics, occupying decision-making positions. She was in the "peace committee" during the negotiations between AKP government and jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.

'I CANNOT SEE AN ULTERIOR MOTIVE IN THIS INVITATION'

"There was a similar invitation last year too. There were two dinners; one was only for women and the second was open to everyone. So, I don't see an ulterior motive in this invitation and I also think this is positive discrimination for women,” Buldan said. 

Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies supported Buldan and applaud her.

Özel responded to Buldan, saying that “you might think this way but this would relieve the ruling party.” 

Both parties agreed on objection to the word of “mistress” used for women in the invitation.